Woman admits to breaking into home while family at child's funeral

Published: Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 10:39 AM.

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — A neighbor accused of breaking into a home while the family was out of town for their toddler's funeral pleaded guilty Friday.

Jessica Necole Williams was sentenced to six months in prison. She appeared in Rowan County Superior Court, taking responsibility for stealing from the grieving parents.

Eyewitness News spoke with the mother of the toddler. Jessica Kepley wore a ribbon with a black and white picture of 1-year-old Parker Munn, who drowned in a neighbor's decorative pond. Then days later, his belongings were stolen and some of them burned.

Kepley still can't grasp how the neighbor who gave her 1-year-old son CPR could be charged with stealing the child's belongings and burning some of them, including a book containing his birth certificate.

ROWAN COUNTY, N.C. — A neighbor accused of breaking into a home while the family was out of town for their toddler's funeral pleaded guilty Friday.

Jessica Necole Williams was sentenced to six months in prison. She appeared in Rowan County Superior Court, taking responsibility for stealing from the grieving parents.

Eyewitness News spoke with the mother of the toddler. Jessica Kepley wore a ribbon with a black and white picture of 1-year-old Parker Munn, who drowned in a neighbor's decorative pond. Then days later, his belongings were stolen and some of them burned.

Kepley still can't grasp how the neighbor who gave her 1-year-old son CPR could be charged with stealing the child's belongings and burning some of them, including a book containing his birth certificate.

"Doing CPR, acting like everything's OK and in the end it's them who took my stuff, and my son's stuff," Kepley said.

Bobby Milam is charged along with his girlfriend Williams, who was sentenced Friday after accepting a plea deal. She'll serve two more months in jail then spend the next three years on probation. Kepley doesn't think it's enough to make up for her actions.

"Why me? Why Parker?" Kepley said. "He was the best kid ever."

Kepley said she's still devastated by the terrible accident. Her fiancé was napping with Parker when the child got out, wandered into a neighbor's yard, fell into a decorative pond and drowned.

"When the paramedics got there and stuff, they tried for an hour," Kepley said. "When they told me they had to stop, I begged them not to. It was really hard."

Kepley's neighbor who lived at the home with the pond said he's haunted by what happened there and by the people accused of burning the toddler's things.

"It's still hard to even live there," Danny Coley said.

While Kepley can't get back her son's burnt belongings, she keeps photos of him with her at all times.

"I still carry him with me every day," she said.

In addition to the jail time and probation, Williams has also been ordered not to have any contact with Kepley.